The Wedding Planner
by rubycaspar
Summary: Post series 5. Abby and Connor share their news, and in the midst of helping to organise the wedding Jess and Becker find themselves growing closer than ever before. Series of related oneshots.
1. Announcement

I've been so busy since the finale last week that I haven't really had much time to write... and I'm busy for next few weeks, too. It's annoying, because my muse seems to be working overtime! Anyway, to all the people who keep asking me, I will be updating _Just Pretend _when I can. Meanwhile, here's a conversation about a different wedding...

**The Wedding Planner**

It had been a long day. In fact, long day didn't even _begin _to cover it. The last 24 hours had been crazy, with convergence and then that missing train (thank god the anomaly led to the Palaeolithic, and there hadn't been dinosaurs to contend with as they'd evacuated people back through and destroyed the train) but the weeks and months before it had been crazy enough as well. By rights they should all be catching up on their sleep.

Instead, they were at Jess' flat, seated on the floor around the coffee table having just finished eating three large pizzas. Becker was leaning back against one of Jess' sofas, Jess sitting next to him. Opposite them were Abby and Connor, and Matt and Emily were seated to their right.

They were talking and laughing about everything and nothing, but eventually there was a lull in the conversation. Connor shifted and then sat forward.

"So we're finally going to get off our arses and find our own place," he said.

Becker immediately looked at Jess, so he saw the way her face fell before she hitched a smile into place. "Oh," she said. "Okay."

Abby could obviously see through Jess' forced cheerfulness as easily as Becker could, because she gave her a knowing smile. "Yeah." Abby and Connor exchanged a look, and Becker started to suspect that there was something a bit deeper going on here. Abby reached out and took Connor's hand, and the two of them grinned at the rest of the group.

"You see, we're engaged."

Jess screamed. Literally screamed. It wasn't a squeal or a shriek – it was a full-throated, ear-busting _scream_. Becker jolted away from her, his hand coming up to protect his ear closest to Jess.

"Oh my god."

Jess threw him a sheepish look. "Sorry," she said. Then she turned back to Connor and Abby, completely ignoring him and his poor ear.

"Oh my god!" She exclaimed, leaning forward across the table to grasp Abby's hand. "Oh, I am so happy! When did this happen? _How _did it happen? How did you propose?"

Her last question was directed at Connor, who smirked in response. "Actually, Abby proposed to _me_."

Jess gasped. "Oh my god, _how_?" She demanded of Abby. "What did you say? Tell me _everything_!"

But, just as Abby opened her mouth to answer, Jess jumped to her feet and ran out of the room.

The rest of them blinked at each other in surprise before starting to laugh.

"Congratulations," Matt said, not looking all that surprised.

"Yes, congratulations to you both," Emily said with a wide smile.

Becker winked at Abby. "Well done," he said.

Jess chose that moment to run back into the room, a large ringbinder in her hands. She plopped back down next to Becker, and dropped the ringbinder onto the coffee table. It was cream with golden whirls over it, and at least five inches thick. The coffee table _shook _when the folder landed on top of it.

Connor's eyes widened. "What is _that_?"

"My sister got married last year – this is my planning folder," Jess said. She flipped open the front cover, slid her hand in between the sheets inside and turned about half of them over. The coffee table shook again. The page she'd opened it on was full of pictures wedding cakes.

Becker stared. Every page in the file was in a separate clear plastic folder, and the page he could see was covered in colour-coded notes in Jess' handwriting – Becker would bet good money that there were notes like that on every page. He also noticed that there was a set of numbers at the bottom of the page – Becker guessed it was some kind of organisational code.

"I have _everything _you need – dress designs, suit designs, caterers, photographers, venues – my sister got married in a hotel in Sussex, but there was this _beautiful _manor house in Surrey that I just _fell in love _with, and I was _heartbroken_ they didn't get married there – promise me you'll consider it, _promise me_..."

Connor burst out laughing.

Jess bit her lip. "Sorry, too much I know... I just really love weddings..."

Connor shook his head. "No, I just – I've never seen Becker look so terrified!"

Everyone turned to look at him, and Becker tore his eyes away from the folder, blinking. He saw four smirks looking back at him. Jess was the only one who didn't smirk – instead she looked embarrassed. Becker waited for her cheeks to flush, the way they so often did (the way he pretended he didn't love) but instead she looked away, back at her folder. She started flipping through the pages.

"Well, some people are just scared of weddings..." She said airily. The others laughed, and Becker raised his eyebrows.

"I'm not scared of weddings," he protested. "I'm scared of wedding _files _large enough to stun a dracorex."

"Yeah, we could use a couple of them in the armoury..." Matt said.

Jess gave him and then Becker a Look, but both of them just grinned. Emily swatted Matt on the shoulder and knelt up to have a closer look at the folder.

"This is wonderful, Jess – you'll have to explain to me how all the traditions have changed from my time," she said.

"Ooh, yes! We can compare how everything's changed over the last hundred and fifty years – I've read about it, but you can tell me all about your own wedding..."

Becker looked over the top of Jess' head and caught Abby's eye. She was trying to hide it, but he could see the slight look of panic on her face. He smirked, and she noticed and scowled at him.

Connor noticed the exchange, and shook his head. "You'll have to get used to the planning," he told Becker. "Since you're going to be my best man."

Becker was thrown for a moment, but only for a moment. "I am, am I?" He said.

Connor smirked. "Yep."

Becker stared at him for a moment before shrugging. "Okay then." They smiled at each other.

Jess tutted. "Seriously, _that's _how you ask him to be the best man at your wedding?" She scoffed. "_Men._"

Abby grinned. "Well, that's how I was going to ask you to be my maid of honour, but I'll think of something else..."

Becker flung his arms up to protect his head as Jess screamed again, somehow even louder than before. When he lowered his arms he found that Jess had thrown herself across the coffee table to hug Abby, who was laughing as she hugged her back.

"Abby, Connor, when you two get pregnant for the first time, please give me _ear plugs _before you tell Jess," Becker said.

They all laughed, and Jess stuck her tongue out at Becker as she sat back again.

"Emily, you're a bridesmaid too," Abby said.

"Thank you, Abby," Emily said, grinning. "I'd be delighted."

"Oh, yeah," Connor said. "Matt –you're like, assistant best man. Or co- best man, or something."

Matt chuckled. "Right. Thanks." He looked at Becker and in a split second of silent communication they began planning the stag party. They turned away to hide their evil grins.

"Ooh, let's start by dressing the boys!" Jess exclaimed, flipping through her folder. "Now, I think top hats are a bit over the top unless you have the venue for it, but you _have _to have morning coats." She opened the folder to a page of men in grey suits. Becker's evil grin was quickly wiped off his face at the sight of the cravats and waistcoats.

"Well, Becker and Matt have to wear their army uniforms, don't they?" Connor asked with a confused frown. He looked at Becker. "That's the rule, right?"

Becker raised an eyebrow. "Well, Matt's no longer in the army, so he doesn't get to wear his uniform to anything," he said, giving Matt a smirk. "And the rule is you wear your uniform to your own wedding, not to your friends'."

"Oh."

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you in uniform," Abby said thoughtfully.

"Life is cruel," Becker quipped.

Connor grinned. "We'll have to try and get him down the aisle, see how he scrubs up," he said.

Becker rolled his eyes.

Abby laughed. "Yeah, I can just imagine him, red jacket with gold lace..."

"He wouldn't wear a red jacket," Jess chimed in. She was flipping through her wedding folder and hadn't looked up when she spoke. Becker raised his eyebrows – she was right, but after the latest royal wedding most people seemed to think the same as Abby, so he was surprised Jess didn't as well. She had _loved _the royal wedding.

"Prince William wore a red jacket," Abby said, proving Becker's point.

Jess looked up at her. "Prince William is in the RAF," she said. "Though the jacket he wore was actually the Colonel's uniform of the Irish Guards – he was given an honorary dispensation to wear it. No – Becker is in the SAS, so he'll wear a dark blue jacket and trousers, and the trousers have a light blue stripe on the side, and the same colour blue stable belt. And he'll wear his badges and his SAS wings and all that. Oh, and white gloves and a peaked cap."

It took Jess a few moments to realise that everyone was staring at her in silence. "What?"

"You know an awful lot about what Becker will wear to his wedding," Abby said with a smirk.

Becker watched as Jess' eyes widened. She started to glace at him but her eyes darted elsewhere before she looked at him properly. Becker raised an eyebrow as she started to backpedal. "Well yes, I mean, I don't know because of... I just... I know uniforms."

Abby grinned. "Well, who doesn't love a man in uniform?"

Jess shook her head. "I _don't_... I mean, yeah – it's... um..."

Becker decided the embarrassed babbling had gone on long enough. "You were almost right," he cut in.

Jess looked at him, as he knew she would. "_Almost_?" She asked. She hated being wrong.

Becker nodded. "Yep," he said. "I'll also be wearing a ceremonial sabre."

Jess' eyes widened and the blush that had been missing earlier crept into her cheeks. "Oh." She turned away, and in profile Becker could clearly see her swallow.

He looked up and caught Abby's eyes across the table. She shook her head. '_You're so mean' _she mouthed at him. Becker smirked.

He sat forward and slid the wedding folder along the table to sit in front of him. "Let's choose the bridesmaid dresses," he said. He looked at Jess. "I think _orange_."

Jess was still blushing, but she narrowed her eyes at him. "I happen to look amazing in orange," she said. "In fact, the most expensive piece of clothing I own is a burnt orange backless silk evening gown."

Becker's imagination was able to conjure that up for him very nicely and extremely quickly, and all he could do was nod. "Oh," he said, turning back to the folder.

He really hoped Jess didn't notice his ears had gone red.

"To the wedding," Matt said suddenly – Becker looked to see that he had raised his glass. "Whatever we end up wearing, I think it's going to be a memorable one."

They all clinked their glasses, proclaiming the toast. Becker gulped down almost half of his beer, his eyes falling on the page he'd flipped onto in the wedding folder – it was an advert for a photographer, with half a dozen snapshots. He stared at the one of the best man and the maid of honour dancing together.

He had a feeling Matt would be proved right.

THE END.


	2. Lace

So, I've decided to carry on with this story – though it's not going to be a continual story so much as a set of related oneshots. At the moment I have ideas for about eight onehsots, all to do with Becker and Jess and the build-up to Connor and Abby's wedding. Some will be longer than others, and this one's quite a short one.

**The Wedding Planner – Lace **

Two weeks after convergence, Connor and Becker started going jogging again. It was something that had started a couple of years before, back when Becker first started working at the ARC. It might seem a bit strange to some people, but the logic ran thusly: Becker's job was to keep the team safe – this was easier if the team were alert and fit in the field – this meant, for some, advanced weapons training and even hand-to-hand combat training – for Connor, it meant being fit enough to _run away from things quickly…_ hence taking him jogging as often as possible.

So, every Saturday morning (that they weren't required in work for something), Becker would jog round to Connor and Abby's flat, pick up Connor, force him to jog about five miles or so, and then drop him back off before jogging the rest of the way home. They hadn't been jogging together since Connor and Abby had got back from the Cretaceous, but Becker was much more comfortable with Connor's abilities in the field these days so he didn't worry about it.

Surprisingly, it was Connor that suggested going jogging again. Becker knew he was suggesting it as more of a bonding exercise than an _exercise _exercise, but he actually didn't mind that. He was going to be his best man, after all.

So, they went jogging. It was just like old times, except that Connor kept trying to sprint instead of jog, thereby wearing himself out every five minutes, and the distance between Becker's flat and Jess' flat was about two miles as opposed to the half a mile it used to be to Abby's old flat.

It wasn't really a problem, but after jogging two miles to the flat and five miles with Connor, he wasn't really in the mood to jog another two miles home. So he was quite tempted when Connor invited him in.

"No, definitely come up – I can show you the ring," Connor insisted.

"Ring?" Becker said. "You bought a ring?"

Connor nodded, grinning. "Yep, and Abby's not here so I can show it to you," he said. "But you can't tell her about it. It's her birthday on Tuesday and I'm going to give it to her then at dinner."

By this time they were trudging up the stairs to the first floor.

"Why are you keeping it a secret?" Becker asked as they reached the front door of the flat. "You're already engaged, why don't you go and pick a ring together?"

Connor shrugged. "Because... I don't know – I didn't get to propose... and I don't mind that, because let's face it I probably would have messed it up, but I still wanted to pick out a ring, and surprise her with it." He gave Becker a sheepish look as his rambling came to a halt. "You know?"

Becker hid a smile as they entered the flat. "I guess," he said. He raised his eyebrows at Connor. "So where is it then?"

"Oh, I had to hide it," Connor said, starting to walk towards the kitchen. "I was in the kitchen and Abby suddenly appeared out of nowhere."

Becker rolled his eyes and followed him. "Where did you hide it?"

"In the washing machine," Connor said, with a casualness that Becker felt was completely unwarranted.

"The _washing machine_?" Becker said incredulously.

Connor looked back at him, his face sheepish again. "Yeah... I panicked," he said.

"Connor!" Becker exclaimed. "It's probably got lost down a drain or something."

It was Connor's turn to roll his eyes, and he shook his head defensively. "I didn't put it in the top part, where it could fall down the pipes – it's in the drum," he said.

"Oh, well that's okay then," Becker said sarcastically.

"I didn't just chuck it in – I placed it down carefully," Connor said. Becker just raised an eyebrow, and Connor turned away. "It's fine," he said sullenly, starting towards the kitchen again.

Becker followed him again. "If you had time to carefully place it in the washing machine, why didn't you just hide it somewhere safer?" Becker asked him. "Or _put it in your pocket_?"

"I told you, I panicked!" Connor said. He stopped dead in the middle of the kitchen. He had his back to Becker, but the horror in his voice when he spoke again was all too clear. "Oh god."

Becker frowned. "What?"

"Oh god – no no _no_." Connor darted forward, and Becker hurried after him. He only needed to look for a split second before seeing what the problem was – Connor was hurrying over to the washing machine, which Becker could see was filled with clothes.

"_Ah_."

"I – she put on washing!" Connor exclaimed needlessly. He yanked open the door and fell to his knees in front of it. "Oh my god!"

Connor thrust his hands into the drum and pulled out the load of clothes, which Becker could see now was actually lady's underwear. The garments spilled across the tiled floor as Connor emptied the machine and felt around inside the drum for the ring.

He let out a groan when he didn't find anything, and started scrabbling through the underwear on the floor. "Help me look!"

"What?"

"We need to look – it's not in there," Connor said wildly.

Becker sighed and crouched down next to him. "Connor, it's probably gone down one of the pipes or the drain or something," he said in what he hoped was a non-judgemental tone.

"No – it's probably caught on the lace on one of these," Connor said. Becker looked and saw that, as Connor said, almost every one of the garments on the floor had lace on it. "Come on, help me look!" Connor insisted, pausing in his frantic searching to glare at Becker for a moment.

Becker started to reach out for a pink lacy bra before pausing, feeling acutely uncomfortable all of a sudden. "I really don't think I should be going through Abby's underwear," he told Connor.

"This isn't Abby's, it's Jess'," Connor said absently, still searching.

"_What_?" Becker yelped.

Connor looked up at Becker and gave him a 'duh' look. "It's Jess'," he repeated. "Abby's doesn't have so much lace on it." He reached down and picked up a pair of silk knickers, and waved them under Becker's nose. "And she doesn't tend to go for butterfly prints."

"Give me that!" Becker snapped, grabbing the knickers off of Connor. He glanced down at them and saw they were purple silk with bright blue and pink butterflies of varying sizes all over them, edged in delicate ivory lace. A glance at the pile still on the floor confirmed that they were part of a matching bra set.

Becker tried very hard to banish the image his mind immediately conjured of Jess wearing said bra set, and forced himself to concentrate on the situation at hand. "We _really_ shouldn't be going through _Jess_' underwear," he insisted.

"I need to find the ring!" Connor exclaimed, starting to look annoyed with him.

He couldn't. He just couldn't. He was not going to rifle through Jess' underwear. "But we – I can't – just be quick," he said, standing up and trying to distance himself.

"It would be quicker if you –"

"No," Becker cut him off.

Connor gave him an exasperated look before going back to his search. Becker tried to look elsewhere but found himself glancing back at the pile on the floor again and again. He was so annoyed – he found it difficult enough to concentrate around Jess these days, and now he just knew he'd be wondering which of these underwear sets she was wearing whenever she was next to him.

Damn it.

"I can't find it!" Connor moaned. He was a picture of anguish, leaning back on his heels with his hands in his hair… surrounded by Jess' underwear. He gave Becker a stricken look. "Oh god, what if it _has_ gone down the –"

"Looking for this?"

Becker and Connor both looked round at the sound of the voice, to find Jess standing next to the breakfast bar. She smirked at Connor and held up a diamond ring.

"Jess! You found it!" Connor exclaimed, scrambling to his feet and running over to her. She handed him the ring, and he grabbed her into a bear hug.

Becker rolled his eyes but had to smile.

"I always check the drum before I use the washing machine these days," Jess said as Connor let go of her.

"You do?" Connor said.

Jess gave him a sardonic look. "Connor, you once left half a sandwich in your trouser pocket when you were washing them," she said drily.

Becker snorted, and Connor looked over his shoulder at him. He shrugged. "Combat trousers – big pockets," he said by way of an explanation. Becker nodded. Connor clenched his fist tight around the ring. "I'm gonna go get the box for this," he said. He grinned at Jess. "Thanks Jess."

Connor hurried out of the kitchen. Becker smiled at Jess and was about to make a joke about Connor and sandwiches when he noticed that she was smirking at him in a very disconcerting way.

"I don't think they're your colour," she said after a moment.

It took Becker a split second to realise what Jess was referring to, and another split second to start going red. "Oh god," he said. His hand tightened around the pair of knickers he still held, and Jess' smirk widened. "Um," he said stupidly. "Sorry." He held them out to her. "Here."

Jess was clearly on the verge of laughing as she took the knickers from him, and Becker knew he was visibly blushing. "Thanks," she said.

Connor was probably bringing the ring back right now, safe in its box, but Becker needed to get away from Jess, Jess' smirk, and Jess' underwear. He'd see the ring some other time.

"I'm gonna... go," he said awkwardly.

Jess just nodded and stepped to the side so he could get past her more easily. She looked utterly delighted at how uncomfortable he was, and he made a mental note to tease her about something on Monday to level the playing field again.

Until then, though…

"Bye bye," Jess said cheerfully.

Becker managed a small smile, and then walked straight out of the flat. He was suddenly very glad he had another two miles to run.


End file.
